Refuse vehicles collect a wide variety of waste, trash, and other material from residences and businesses. Operators use the refuse vehicle to transport the material from various waste receptacles within a municipality to a storage or processing facility (e.g., a landfill, an incineration facility, a recycling facility, etc.). To reduce the requisite number of trips between the waste receptacles and the storage or processing facility, the refuse may be emptied into a collection chamber (e.g., a hopper) of the refuse vehicle and thereafter compacted. Such compaction reduces the volume of the refuse and increases the carrying capacity of the refuse vehicle. The refuse is compacted in the collection chamber by an ejector that is forced against the refuse by actuators (e.g., pneumatic cylinders, hydraulic cylinders). To keep the ejector aligned with the walls of the collection chamber, portions of the ejector are constrained by tracks or rails.
Traditionally, an ear on each side of the ejector slides within a “C” channel formed along the collection chamber. Compacting forces and forces due to the weight of the ejector are applied at the interface between the ear and the ejector. However, the ear is supported by the body of the refuse vehicle in a location laterally outward from the interface between the ear and the ejector. The application of forces laterally inward from the “C” channel produces a cantilever loading arrangement, which increases the stresses on the ear, the ejector, and the vehicle body. The structural elements of these components (e.g., the plates, gussets, etc.) must be sized to carry this increased load, thereby increasing the weight of the refuse vehicle. Despite such an increase in weight, a cantilevered loading configuration remains the traditional method for supporting the ejector of a refuse vehicle.